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Ch2: Foundations of Individual Behavior.

Q1: What are the two types of ability?.

Intellectual Ability: The capacity to do mental activities such as; thinking, reasoning,

and problem solving.

Physical Ability: The capacity to do tasks demanding stamina, dexterity, strength, and

similar characteristics.

Q2: What is intellectual or cognitive ability, and is it relevant to OB?.

Intellectual ability commonly refers to the ability measured by performance on an intelligence

test. It is also sometimes used in the context of discussing the performance of someone in an

academic or real world setting.

Relevance of Intellectual Ability to OB

Organizational behavior is traditionally considered as the study of human behavior in the work

place. Employee performance is enhanced when an employee and position are well matched

what we call a high abilityjob fit. If we focus only on the employees abilities or the ability

requirements of the job, we ignore the fact that employee performance depends on the

interaction of the two.

Dimensions of Intellectual Ability : Number Aptitude. Verbal Comprehension. Perceptual Speed. Inductive Reasoning. Deductive Reasoning. Spatial Visualization. Memory.

Q3: What are the key biographical characteristics, and why are they relevant to OB?.

Personal Characteristics

Age:

Older workers bring experience, judgment, a strong work ethic, and commitment to

quality.

Gender:

Few differences between men and women that affect job performance.

Race (the biological heritage used to identify oneself):

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Contentious issue: differences exist, but could be more culture-based than race-based.

Tenure:People with job tenure (seniority at a job) are more productive, absent less frequently,

have lower turnover, and are more satisfied.

Religion:Islam is especially problematic in the workplace in this post-9/11 world.

Sexual orientation:

Federal law does not protect against discrimination (but state or local laws may).

Domestic partner benefits are important considerations.

Gender identity:

Relatively new issue transgendered employees.

Q4: What is learning, and what are the major theories of learning?.

Learning: A relatively permanent change in behavior that occurs as a result of

experience.

Classical Conditioning: A type of conditioning in which an individual respondsto some stimulus that would not ordinarily produce such a response.

Operant Conditioning: A type of conditioning in which desired voluntarybehavior leads to a reward or prevents a punishment.Behaviorism Behavior follows stimuli in a relatively unthinking manner.

Social-Learning Theory: People can learn through observation and directexperience.

Attention processes - Retention processes - Motor reproduction processes -

Reinforcement processes.

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Q5: What is shaping, and how can it be used as a management tool?.

Shaping Behavior: Systematically reinforcing each successive step that moves an

individual closer to the desired response

Methods of shaping behavior, there are four ways in which to shape behavior:

Positive reinforcement: Providing a reward for a desired behavior (learning).

Negative reinforcement: Removing an unpleasant consequence when the desired

behavior occurs (learning).

Extinction: Withholding reinforcement of a behavior to cause its cessation

(unlearning)

Punishment: Applying an undesirable condition to eliminate an undesirable behavior

(unlearning)

They can help management decide on servile issues some of these are how toorganize staff.

Q6: How does culture affect our understanding of intellectual abilities, biographical

characteristics, and learning?

Intellectual Abilities: Structures and measures of intelligence generalize across cultures

Biographical Characteristics: Not much evidence on the global relevance of the

relationships described in this chapter.

Countries do vary dramatically in their biographical composition

Learning: Again, not much evidence currently exists we cannot generalize at this point

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